Uruguayan Food

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Chivito Sandwich

In any country food is one of the things that make the country unique, every country has their own specialty there. In Uruguay dinner is by far the most important meal of the day. Breakfast in Uruguay is nothing big nor special.(Uruguayan Food) Usually breakfast is a light meal such as bread and jam along with coffee or Mate (national beverage in Uruguay, Tea).(Wikipedia) Lunch on the other hand was more of a bigger meal, most people liked to go out or head home for something good (some businesses even shut down so everyone can relax and go out for a good lunch), such as a Chivito ( a tall steak sandwich consisting of many ingredients steak, cheese, eggs, beacon, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, olives, etc) usually this was around mid-day at school or work.(Greenwald) But dinner was a whole different story, being the most important dinner took place in the late evening. Dinner consisted of soup, salad, steak or Asado (National dish in Uruguay, type of meat, very time consuming),(brown) bread, wine, cheese, fruit and Yerba Mate or coffee. Since dinner took so much time preparing Uruguayans would play a card game called Truco, meaning trick. This game would pass the time while dinner was being prepared.
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Valentino's
(McLeod)

If you're looking for a good place just to go out and eat there is more then enough places in Uruguay. Most places are Parrilladas (grill rooms) (AlloExpat) most of the places are Parrilladas because of the meat popularity, Montevideo restaurants are among the highest in quality for their steak, not to mention their seafood and stew quality.(Study Abroad) A meal like this is on more on the expensive side. Now if you are looking for more of a sandwich type of place the place to go would be Valentino's Restaurant. (Gross) This restaurant would be the main place you would go out to lunch.


Uruguay has many different types of food, most containing a unique type of meat. (Fleisher) the reasoning for the (Hamre) meat popularity is because of the lack of cow predetors in Uruguay. Parrillada Criolla is one of the most popular, this unique food contains Chorizos (sausages), rinoes (kidneys), and strips of beef. Uruguay is also famous for their beef and lamb.(Boland) They need more then protein all the meat they eat, for sides they are commonly veggie filled salads or soups.(Uruguayan Cuisine) One most common side would be the bean salad. But that's not all, Uruguay also has Dulce de Leche (sugar and milk) this is the most common dessert, usually eaten with cakes, cookies or bread. Wine, Mate or coffee is also served at every meal.
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Dulce De Leche
(Smith)